This beautiful piece depicts the life cycle of a cicada, a tiny insect that has a very interesting life cycle. Spending most of its initial life underground as a nymph, the cicada emerges from the earth and turns into a winged insect with a beautiful song that is driven by the changing of the seasons.
Here we see the cicada emerging from the ground to fly amongst the tall in trees and chirp softly amongst the leaves.
Time above the ground is short for the cicada and the effort it expands to conduct this glorious transformation means that it’s beautiful song can only last for a short time.
Cicadas have been featured in many Chinese works of art and are one of the most inspirational creatures for Chinese poets. This stunning piece shows the life cycle and transformation of the cicada with the new growing branch representing vitality, change and growth.
